Reality TV star Christall Kay has been nominated in the second annual National Film and TV Awards South Africa (NFTA).
Kay has received a nomination in the Best Female TV Personality category, she was a part of “The Real Housewives: Ultimate Girls Trip South Africa” which has also been nominated for Best Non-Scripted TV Series.
“I'm very, very excited about it,” Kay tells IOL.
The media personality explained that she didn't think she would be nominated for the awards but was very excited to see her name pop up during the announcement.
“I was like, I can't believe I made it onto the list, that was awesome. It's been a long journey for me on TV and I think all of us reality artists have quite a hard time because it's us.
“It's not like we're normal actresses, we can’t hide behind a character, we are ourselves and we have to be out there, we are very vulnerable.
“Something like an award like that means a lot because it encompasses everything of who we are, not only on screen but everything.”
Kay has had quite the screen journey, all starting in 2018 on the first season of “The Real Housewives of Johannesburg” which birthed “The Real Housewives” franchise in South Africa and Africa.
She is the longest cast member of “The Real Housewives of Johannesburg” lasting all three seasons, even the canned season three that never made it onto screens.
This year she dazzled once again on screens on “The Real Housewives: Ultimate Girls Trip South Africa”.
Kay’s screen journey hasn't been easy, on any of the shows she's been on, she goes through her fair share of trials and tribulations, which was also evident on “The Real Housewives: Ultimate Girls Trip South Africa”.
The mother of one admits that in the beginning of “The Real Housewives: Ultimate Girls Trip South Africa” she did think that the experience was a repeat of “The Real Housewives of Johannesburg” where everybody was keen to climb into her and put her down.
“I always had to get up, stand my ground tell it as it is and set the record straight.”
Her first night in Jamaica was a “traumatic evening” almost setting the tone for the season but Kay didn't allow it to happen, she picked herself up and had a good time.
Kay had quite the time in Jamaica and while the other housewives struggled to get their groove on, Kay quietly orchestrated getting herself some holiday fun.
“I know I don't look it but I'm one of the oldest of them all, but I can get down and find, as I say, the Jamaican prince without a problem.
“He wasn't just there for a quick little thing he was there for the whole time and we had this whole love kind of vibe going on and these goals.
“They just couldn't get over it because we were together the whole time. That was amazing, but it was coming from me. It was a situation, I decided I'm going to go and find someone to have fun with stuff.”
Kay’s decision to go off with her Jamaican Prince was on her own accord, adding that her love connection was good for the show as it gave the show more of an entertainment spin. Who doesn't love seeing a woman take charge of her own romantic life on her own terms?
Besides “The Real Housewives”, Kay also trends for just being herself, not so long ago she found herself being the talk of social media after she appeared on the YouTube series, “Awkward Dates” with Lasizwe Dambuza and butchered the South African national anthem.
Dambuza and Kay previously appeared on season two of “The Perfect Picture” together and are well acquainted with each other. The episode of their date trended online, especially the part where she gets the Xhosa and Afrikaans lyrics of the national anthem wrong.
Singing is natural for the confident Kay; viewers have seen her dance moves and belt her vocal cords.
“I equally messed up both Afrikaans and the Xhosa. I didn't show everyone, Crystal just knows the English parts because I messed up both the English and the Xhosa.”
Now that Kay is off-screen she is back to the world of real estate, something that she is very excited about.
“Like any new business it's a lot of time, a lot of negotiating, a lot of calling, a lot of walking, talking, before you get the big deals and they're starting to come, that's exciting.
“People have this idea that because you're a celebrity, everything just happens so fast. It's not like that, you have to put in the work. I believe in the 80/20 principle - which means you use 80% of your mind and you do 20% of the work.”
Kay is a woman with her fingers in many pies, her fans will be glad to know that she will be releasing a song “soon”, and she’s working on getting back to the stage, working on her vocals, and practising performing.
“Being a reality artist, it's very different from being an actual staged artist, it is so different… To be that same person, you’ve rehearsed or scripted, it's quite challenging for me because I'm just such an off-the-cuff person.
“Doing a stage production is a challenge for me but I can do it. It's a lot more discipline that I have to put down, great credit to those artists who are great performers and they do everything by the script and the book.”
IOL Entertainment